Chicago Daily Observer

The Natural Resources Defense Council has observed that Lake Michigan shoreline beaches top the nation in closures due to high bacteria contamination, with the Kathy Osterman (Mrs. Bruce DuMont) beach being above safe levels 12 out of 12 times tested.

Though it seems unlikely that the tests are all that accurate or scientific…Abion Beach was tested 289 times in 2007, while Loyola Ave Beach was never tested, the results are distressing, but expected.

The NRDC does not take the investigation very far, stating under the heading “Causes of Closing and Advisories” that “All of Illinios beach closures were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources of contamination”.

This despite the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District dumping 233 Million Gallons of raw sewage, in August 2007 which may have increased the bacteria count a bit.

To know the Chicago River is to get down to water level and float along what Gary Mechanic describes as a “highway that flows through the heart of Chicago.”

Seeing this highway from 60 feet above on a bridge is simply not the same experience as seeing the powerful persona of the river “from the river’s point of view,” said Mechanic, president of the Illinois Paddling Council, an umbrella organization for Illinois paddling clubs.

The urge probably hasn’t struck you in awhile, but if you decide you need to address the board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago at an upcoming meeting, you may or may not be allowed to. If you do get the go-ahead, you may or may not have three minutes to say what you may or may not need to say, and you may not be allowed to continue.

District officials say they’re changing some of the procedures for public meetings in response to the deadly shooting at a City Council meeting in Missouri in February.

There is a fine distinction between a persistent candidate and a perennial candidate. The latter runs repeatedly, and loses. The former runs repeatedly, but loses credibly, not by much, and eventually triumphs.

The epitome of persistence in Illinois politics is Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn. His persistence could pay off. Gov.. Blagojevich’s legal problems could well create a vacancy before 2010, elevating Quinn to chief executive. But when it comes to electoral success, Quinn, age 60, is batting only .500. He’s won four, and lost four.

In 1982, Democrat Quinn was elected commissioner of the Cook county board of tax appeals. In 1986, he lost the primary for state treasurer. In 1990, he won the primary and was elected state treasurer. In 1994, he lost to George Ryan for secretary of state. In 1996, he lost the primary to Dick Durbin for U.S. senator. In 1998, he lost the primary for ... Read More...

During the year that Mayor Daley’s son had a hidden ownership stake in a sewer company, the business not only landed lucrative deals at City Hall, it also got work from another local government—the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Records show the Water Reclamation District paid the company, Municipal Sewer Services, more than $200,000 to inspect sewers under a contract awarded in 2004. At the time, the agency’s top administrator was John Farnan, a longtime member of the 11th Ward Democratic organization run by the mayor’s brother, Cook County Commissioner John Daley. Farnan, who has since retired, did not return calls seeking comment.

“Which would be harder for you to survive without for three days, oil or clean water?” —Cameron Davis, President of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Davis has managed in one sentence to capture the essence of the debate over whether BP should be allowed to slightly increase discharges of ammonia and suspended particulate matter into Lake Michigan as part of a $3.8 billion expansion of its northwestern Indiana refinery.

For Davis, and so many others, the issue is one of absolutes: Do you want clean water or oil?

In real life, that’s not the choice we face. Choices are not so absolute, but the opponents who have bashed BP, the state of Indiana and the U.S. EPA for approving the expansion plans would have it so. Either or. Black or white. Good or evil.

With a single question, which he posed in his response to the Chicago Daily ... Read More...

Dear Mr. Powers:

I’ll ask your readers three questions. First, is it OK to authorize increased pollution to Lake Michigan?

Thank you for asking us to respond to your open letter to the Alliance for the Great Lakes ( http://cdobs.com/our-columns/open-letter-to-the-alliance-for-the-great-lakes/, September 8), especially in light of some 233 million gallons of wastewater that discharged to Lake Michigan from recent heavy rains.

If your readers answered “no,” they’d get an A+ for the right answer to your question and the above question. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management gave BP’s Whiting refinery a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit allowing increases pollution levels of ammonia and Total Suspended Solids over the previous permit. When Congress passed the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, it was with one overriding goal in mind: to reduce pollution levels to the nation’s waterways over time. Reduce, not increase. And this is a goal ... Read More...